Lines and Plus Signs
by SnowyBones
Summary: Brennan's thoughts and feelings when she finds out she is pregnant and what happens after the screen goes dark at the end of 'Change in the Game'.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, just the plot to this little story. Everything else is property of Hart Hanson and Co. I just borrowed the characters. I promise to return them. Though they may not be in the same condition as they were before. *winks*

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**Lines and Plus Signs**

She sat on the closed lid of her toilet, staring unseeingly at the small white stick sitting on the counter in front of her. The little white stick with its two pink lines in the small window, shining like a beacon on a foggy night.

Her eyes lifted to the closed bathroom door, on the other side of which was Booth, already lounging in bed waiting for her to finish getting ready for bed herself. Brennan swallowed. She had suspected for a few days now that she might be pregnant. Her cycle, usually so regular had been late by almost 2 weeks now. At first she had passed it off as stress after everything that had happened when Vincent died. But then she remembered. She'd forgotten about her birth control pills. The small packet still sitting in her bedside drawer.

Heart pounding madly she'd gone to the pharmacy and bought two pregnancy tests, the second of which was now sitting on her bathroom counter, with its two pink lines staring accusingly at her.

Just like the first one had a week ago when she had taken it, the small window showing a pink plus sign. The second taken just a few moments ago, confirming what she had known all along. She was pregnant.

Pregnant.

She was pregnant. With child. However you wanted to say it, she was going to have a baby. A baby with Booth.

_Booth. Oh, god_. What was he going to think? Did he even want another child? Did he want one with _her_? Again her eyes drifted to the closed door next to her, knowing that Booth was still waiting for her to come to bed.

What was going to happen now? And how was she going to tell him?

Question after question chased itself in her mind, each without a definitive answer.

And Brennan absolutely_ hated _not having answers.

She and Booth had only just begun this strange and wonderful new aspect of their relationship a month ago, but in some ways it wasn't as though anything had really changed. Brennan had to admit that Angela was right last year; she and Booth really were a couple all those years, even without actually sleeping together. And now that they were sleeping together, Brennan had found that they really were as compatible as she'd always thought.

_And we made a baby._

The thought drew her eyes back to the pregnancy test still sitting innocently on her bathroom counter. Unconsciously, Brennan rested her hand on her still flat stomach, as if the baby growing inside her could feel it. Logically she knew it was way too early for that. She couldn't feel the baby herself yet. Still, the desire to try to feel this precious thing was overwhelming.

Tears stung the backs of her eyes and before she could figure out a way to stem them, they were slipping down her cheeks. How was she going to do this?

Her whole life was changing. And she felt inadequate and scared. She didn't even know how to be a mother, let alone a good mother. What if she couldn't connect with her child? She was lousy at connecting with people as it was. Except Booth, she could connect with him. She had.

Connecting with Booth though, wasn't the same as connecting with a child. She knew the basics of caring for a child, like feeding it and clothing it and bathing it and such. But emotionally, she had no idea. What if she was a horrible mother? What if her child grew to resent her one day?

Brennan didn't even know how to play with a child. One look back at her time with Baby Andy was enough testament to that fact. Sure she had wiggled her fingers (phalanges) at him a few times, but that wasn't enough to occupy a child. They needed other forms of auditory and visual stimulation after all.

Like toys, children needed toys in order to play. But what toys? And how would she know what her child would like and not like? She had no idea even what toys were good or bad.

Standing, she gathered the pregnancy test from the counter. She contemplated keeping it to show Booth as proof but quickly dismissed the idea. She knew he would believe her when she told him. Taking care to conceal the test in the trash, just as she had with the first, so Booth wouldn't see it, as she wanted to tell him without him seeing the test first, she made her way back towards her bedroom.

From her bed, Booth looked up, a smile lighting his face, "Hey" he said, holding out his hand to her as she made her way around to her side of the bed. 'Come here." Pushing thoughts of babies aside, Brennan slipped into bed beside him, allowing Booth to pull her closer and press a soft kiss to her lips which quickly turned into more than kissing.

Making slow love that night, Brennan felt her worries about the pregnancy wash away in the bliss of the feelings that Booth evoked in her. As the last of her orgasm faded and she lay curled in next to Booth, sleepy and sated, Brennan allowed herself to relax and let sleep claim her. Vowing to tell Booth soon about the baby.

Booth and Brennan spent several of the next few days together, both during the day and at night, yet Brennan could not figure out a good way to tell him about the baby. It seemed when she thought the time was right, something would come up and she'd lose her courage.

Admittedly, she wasn't trying very hard. Apprehension and fear holding her back, she remained mute on the subject. She knew she had to tell him, as it would be obvious soon that she was pregnant. And she knew if she didn't tell him before that, he would be very hurt.

Still she kept silent, fear turning her innards. Finally, the case at the bowling alley came along and Brennan focused on the case and tried to swallow away the guilt at not having told Booth yet.

The undercover part of the case consumed her as they tried to identify a likely suspect, and then she met Amber. The horrible child. It was when she voiced her opinion that if she and Booth (or Buck as he was calling himself during this undercover job), ever had a child, she would not be like Amber, that Brennan was given another reason to hold back her news.

"That's never ever gonna happen, Wanda, never," he had said. Brennan had felt her insides seize at his words. Did he mean they'd never have a child like Amber, that any child of theirs would be much better behaved? Or did he mean that he didn't want to have children with her?

Confused, afraid, and just a little hurt, Brennan swallowed it all away and acted as if the comment hadn't stung at all. But still her doubts grew larger and suddenly she felt slightly nauseated. Again pushing it all aside, she focused on the case.

Hours later, when they had arrested their killer and were sitting in the hospital waiting room, awaiting the arrival of Hodgins and Angela's baby, Brennan lost herself in thoughts of her own child growing inside her.

Would he or she be born in a hospital like this? She didn't think so; hospitals were notorious breeding grounds for infection and such. No it would be better to have the child at home, that way she could control things. Yes.

What would he or she look like? Would he or she look more like her? Or Booth? A mixture maybe?

And then she wondered what it would be like to give birth. Obviously it would be quite painful as the baby pushed its way through the birth canal and then out through her vagina. But she wondered what it would be like after, when she welcomed her child into the world. With these thoughts, though came the doubts once more. Nibbling on her bottom lip, Brennan tried to quell her wayward thoughts, instead focusing on the excitement of the impending birth of Hodgins and Angela's child.

So lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the way Booth kept glancing over at her, concern etched into his handsome features. Settling back in her seat, Brennan waited out the next hour before the doors to the maternity ward clicked open, revealing Hodgins carrying a tiny bundle in his arms, the head of which was adorned with a cap with what looked like tiny dreadlocks atop it.

Brennan smiled as she joined the others to congratulate the proud new father, but she hung back near the edge of the crowd around him, smiling softly at the newest addition to their strange little family. Watching for several moments, Brennan slipped through the doors to the ward beyond and made her way to a nursing station and asked for Angela's room.

Stepping through the door, she was amazed to see Angela looking tired but smiling. When she asked Angela what it was like, and received a tired but very happy "It was wonderful, it was beautiful. It was a dream", she knew it was time to tell Booth about their new addition to be.

It was later on, after they had left the hospital and gotten some dinner that Brennan asked the question that had plagued her since the two pink lines had appeared on the pregnancy test. Walking along the dark street about a mile from her apartment, having had to park on the street due to no spaces being available closer, Brennan spoke.

"They're whole lives are changing, you'd think they'd be a little more apprehensive," she started.

"Well, having a baby, that's a good thing," he told her, turning to face her on the sidewalk as they stopped walking.

"You really think that?" she asked, hope sparking within her. _Maybe he really does want a child with me._

"Yeah, that's a great thing. Wha? What?"

Instead of answering, Brennan felt her anxiety return, making her incapable of speaking. Vaguely she heard Booth saying that having a baby was the best day of Hodgins and Angela's lives, and that the baby was healthy, that she needn't worry. Swallowing hard, after Booth's repeated "What?" She finally found her voice.

"I'm ... I'm pregnant," she blurted.

For a moment there was silence, and when she looked at Booth's face, it had gone blank. Heart pounding, thinking maybe he misunderstood, she clarified, "You're the father."

Again, silence, but then she watched slowly as his face transformed and the widest smile spread across his face, and then he was hugging her hard and spinning her in circles.

"Really? A baby? Are you sure?" he asked, stopping mid-turn.

Laughing and feeling more at ease now that she knew he was happy, she nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I took the test twice. Two pink lines both times."

Wonder spread over Booth's face at her affirmation and then he was laughing, a joyous laugh and then setting her on her feet again in front of him.

"Oh, Bones," he whispered, and then he was laying the palm of his hand against her stomach, in much the same way she had done the night of the first positive test, and whispered a quiet, "Hello baby."

Tears sprung at his words, spoken so tenderly, and then she was kissing him, hard. Booth was taken aback at her obvious show of affection, but went with it, kissing her back with equal abandon.

Minutes later, they broke apart due to the need for air, foreheads resting gently against one another. Reaching up, Booth swiped the still falling tears away, whispering, "Oh baby, don't cry."

Choosing to ignore the endearment of 'baby', Brennan chuckled, "I find I can't seem to control it."

"I hate seeing you cry, Bones," Booth admitted, now taking out his handkerchief, he gently wiped her tears away.

"Booth?" she asked quietly as he wiped.

"Yeah, Bones?"

"You're happy right? About the baby?" she asked, needing that clarification.

Booth smiled, taking her hand in both of his and raising it to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "Yes, Bones. I am. I'm happy with you. And I'm overjoyed about the baby. I can't wait to meet him."

Relief washed through Brennan. "I'm happy too, Booth. And I can't wait to meet her either."

"Her?" Booth teased.

Lifting her chin, Brennan nodded, "Yes, I believe the fetus growing inside my womb has female genitalia."

Booth spluttered at her words, "What?! Bones! Do you have to say it like that? Can't we just stick to saying, carrying a baby? Huh?"

"But Booth ..." she started to say but when she saw the set of his jaw she relented. "Okay."

"Good, now let's go home, Bones."

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So, what did you think? Please, leave your thoughts, and be kind. Thanks. :)


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